EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer
Census and Statistics Act 1905
Proclamation appointing Census day
Subsection 8(1) of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (the Act) provides that the Census shall be taken in the year 1981 and every fifth year thereafter, and at such other times as are prescribed.
Subsection 8(2) of the Act requires that the Census day shall be appointed for that purpose by proclamation.
The 2001 Census was conducted on 7 August 2001. To maintain comparability of the time series data it is important that the 2006 Census be conducted as close as possible to that date. The Census also needs to avoid school holidays to ensure as full coverage as possible of persons in their usual place of residence.
The purpose of the proclamation is to appoint 8 August 2006 as the day on which the 2006 Census will be taken.
The Act specifies no conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the proclamation may be exercised.
The proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
There was no consultation undertaken in relation to the Proclamation.